Dirt Showdown is a satisfying mix of driving tricks and destruction wrapped up in the slickest of presentations.

UK REVIEW: There's a spectacle to Dirt Showdown that flies in the face of racing tradition: the jumps, the drifts, the squealing doughnuts, and the blinding flash of fireworks. With each crumpled bumper and shattered windscreen, a vast arena crowd roars, eager to be wowed not with the shaving of valuable seconds from a lap time, but with pyrotechnic-laden displays of driving that are as much about showmanship and destruction as they are about skilful precision. It's an intoxicating mix that forgoes the difficulty of simulation for a thrilling and beautifully presented arcade ride.

The biggest difference between Showdown and its predecessors is that the handling is surprisingly forgiving. You can whip your car around the tightest of corners without ever easing off the accelerator, while even the most dramatic twirls of the steering wheel don't send you hurtling headfirst towards a barrier like they used to. But there's still a balance to be found. The skill lies in the timing of your turns and the judicious tapping of your hand brake and boost to perform impressive drifts and show-stopping doughnut rings. It's a dramatically different feel, but one that lends itself beautifully to the events at hand.

Some, like the Hoonigan events, are all about precision and showmanship in licensed cars. The destructible blocks of Smash Hunter are intricately arranged to reward delicate turns and tight drifts, while a timer for high scores keeps the pressure on, and your speed up. There's more challenge to be had in Trick Rush events, where drifts, doughnuts, and jumps are scattered throughout cleverly designed environments. With each trick your multiplier climbs ever higher, resulting in a mad dash to rack up points before the timer runs down.

Most challenging are the head to head Gymkhana events, where you take on the mighty Ken Block in a trick-filled arena course. The turns are tighter, the jumps larger, and the pyrotechnics even wilder. But while the bright, neon fireworks and explosive confetti cannons certainly add excitement to the proceedings, it's the process of improving bit by bit, drawing ever closer to success and perfection that makes such events so entertaining and incredibly addictive.

But there's another side to Dirt Showdown, one that sheds the skill for mindless and supremely satisfying displays of destruction: Demolition events. The licensed cars are ditched in favour of made-up machines that are turned into crumpled heaps of scrap as you're launched into the centre of an arena to ram, slam, and boost your way into opponents, doing everything you can to whittle down their health bars and to score points. Enclosed arenas give you barriers to ram them against, while open arenas mean mistimed boosts send you spiralling out of control onto the surrounding sandy ground.

It's all very dramatic, and heaps of fun, despite the incredibly cheesy and quickly grating quips from the commentator. There's a sick satisfaction to be had from tearing into cars and ripping off bumpers, but of course, your competitors can do the same to you. And when a whole gang of them are chasing after you at once in Hard Target events, it becomes a tense battle for survival. There are more conventional events on offer, such as Lap Attack, Eliminator, and Domination races. But while cleverly designed figure-of-eight circuits and ramp-filled tracks keep the racing firmly in the arcade, these events are unremarkable when compared to the bombast of Gymkhana or the all-out carnage of Demolition.

A mix of all events makes up the Showdown Tour career mode. There are four stages to play through, each consisting of 15 events that take you on a tour of the world. There are the colourful lights and sharp corners of Tokyo; the dusty roads and sweeping drifts of the Baja California circuits; the slippery snow-covered slopes of Colorado; and the wide-open industrial spaces of Battersea. All are beautifully presented, showcasing the typically great circuit design that Codemasters is famed for. The ability to purchase new cars or upgrade their basic stats such as power and handling using money you earn is a nice incentive to progress, but without a narrative or character to develop, it can get a little tiresome.

The events really come into their own when you take them online or compete via two-player split-screen. Smashing AI opponents is one thing, but when it's your friend's car you've turned into scrap, that's a whole other level of satisfaction. Even the race events are more enjoyable, thanks to the inevitable smashing of opponents' cars as you drive around a circuit. There's also the option to split into teams, thrusting you and seven other players into epic battles for destruction domination. It all comes together brilliantly, giving you the feeling that perhaps Showdown always was intended to be an online experience, even if the single-player is hardly a rush job.

That said, Showdown has one more single-player trick up its sleeve in the form of Joyride. Its large, free-roaming levels offer up a range of fun quick-fire missions for you to complete. Some are in the form of tricks like performing death-defying leaps or tight drifts. Others are speed challenges where you race through tight circuits as quickly as possible. There are hidden Showdown icons to collect too. With all there is to do, you can spend lots of time simply enjoying a drive around a Joyride level and picking off missions. Plus, your scores and times can be sent over to friends as challenges for them to complete, which is a nice touch.

Competing with friends really is the best way to enjoy Dirt Showdown. Sure, the single-player campaign is pleasant enough, but it's nothing compared to the joy of online destruction and the satisfaction of nailing those most impressive of skilful driving tricks in front of an audience. And when it's delivered via some of the smoothest and most stunning visuals in the racing genre, it's easy to see how you can get lost for hours in Showdown's bombastic world. If you're looking for the next great rally simulator, you won't find it here. But to ignore Dirt Showdown because of its arcade styling would be to deny yourself one of the most satisfying of pleasures: that of mindless, over-the-top, and--above all--deliciously addictive destruction.

More GameSpot Reviews

It's a guilty pleasure. I love the overall game, it's a blast and the variations on demo derby keep it fresh. But it's most certainly an arcade game, with almost nothing to speak of for realism. There are only a few cars in the game, with virtually no discernible difference between them on the track. They all feel pretty much the same.

Where this game lost me was in it's foregoing any semblance of realism with rubber-band racing physics and the dreaded boost button. Boost buttons belong on kid's games. They are the final nail in the coffin for my decision to return the rental rather than buy.

Quite a bit of fun but not terribly engaging. The stunt competitions and block breaking games are my least favorite, arcade physics makes precision driving impossible. The simple racing parts are great, but become highly repetitive.

It seems to be about on par with the arcade style MX games like the MX vs ATV series.

Hahaha...this is an unlegitimate succesor of legendary Dirts...something like unwanted child...funny I bought Gas Guzzlers last week and it is 10 times better game than this one. Of course you gave them 4.0 cause they are small Indie title from the middle of Europe and Codemasters are well known brand...and have the money to pay for excellent review of poor game...

"Most challenging are the head to head Gymkhana events, where you take on the mighty Ken Block in a trick-filled arena course."

I find these to be the easiest events, because the trick scoring is noticeably more forgiving in these events than the other events (and you have a clear path to drive on and a very limited number of tricks you have to do). Smash Hunter is easily more challenging than head-to-head Gymkhana.

The review says 15 events in each of four stages. So are there only four environments, each with 15 tracks that all look same? That would seem a bit lackluster imho. Could anyone who already has the game explain how it is?

@TheLamaKnows This is a review I can agree with, this is about how I felt while playing. I agree, now MX vs ATV games are very unrealistic, but back when Unleashed was released, it was actually pretty realistic, for a dirt slinging racer.

@tommyas That's because IGn was threatening Codemasters that if they didn't get more ad revenue they were going to decrease the review score, and they did because Codemasters told them to go fuck themselves. I've played the game, it's very well done and I also own Dirt 3, they handle differently, Dirt 3 handles more realistically but Dirt Showdown is more of an arcade racer but still challenging and great fun with friends and complete strangers. Don't let IGN persuade your thoughts, usually IGN pulls this shit with just about any company, that's why I usually leave my trust with Gamespot, I've never really had a time were I didn't agree with their reviews except for maybe a few smaller titles, plus Gamespot allows for user reviews were as IGN doesn't.

@loanstar744@TheLamaKnows Thanks. I used to actually race MX/SX and it always stood out to me the total lack of good MX games. Given the huge popularity of supercross, it's weird that we've never really seen an MX game with all the licensing and product placement you see in pretty much every other type of sports game.

Even pretty niche forms of racing get simulation level games, NASCAR, F1, Outlaws, heck- there is not one but TWO games for Superbike racing series- far more niche than motocross. Yet no one even makes the arcade style MX games like ATV versus, much less realistic ones. Just seems odd that so many very niche sports see hyper-realistic games while something so popular as MX was completely abandoned just as MX/SX really took off.

@loanstar744 Hm thats not the first time I heard something like this... And yeah I definitely believe GS more than IGN most of the time as well.

Could you explain more about the amount of unique tracks in the game? The review says 15 events in each of four stages. So are there only four environments, each with 15 tracks that all look same? That would seem a bit lackluster imho.

@rarson Showdown meaning one against the other, in Showdown it's all about destruction derby and racing so it's pitting you against the enemy in a "Showdown". If it were meant to be Dirt 4 it would have said "DiRT 4".

@TheLamaKnows @loanstar744 Yes, sadly there haven't been any good simulation MX games, it's saddening too considering it's one my favorite sports and while I don't ride Motocross I do ride BMX and can slightly see where you come from in a way. That's one of the reasons I like the Collin McRae series, before it was Dirt and even now with some of an exception to Showdown, it was one of the most realistic rally game series I had ever laid hands on. That and Richard Burns Rally. I guess people don't feel simulation MX is enough of a series people would jump on, I know I would get it in a heart beat, as well as a another Super bike simulator, such as Suzuki TT Super Bikes, I never really understood the hate towards the game on sites like IGN because most people who played it loved it. I'm a sucker for just about any racing game but simulation is by far my favorite.

I agree though, hell there haven't even been simulation street bike games, the best you'll get for that is GTA and the new Motorstorm. Which aren't realistic in the least, but still fun. :b

EDIT: Well, aside from MotoGP and Tourist Trophy, but none of those were very popular. probably due to a bad marketing plan.

"a car going 30MPH around a wide corner isn't going to suddenly break loose for no reason and spin out"

I never had that happen to me in Flatout.

"What I'm saying is bug wise, glitch wise the game is sound"

I understand that; it has absolutely nothing to do with my score. I never said there were any glitches. Why do you keep repeating the same stuff over and over again?

Plenty of people might play this game and like it, probably because they haven't played other, better games like Flatout. With the word "dirt" in the title though, I'm willing to bet that a lot of people are going to buy this because they're familiar with the other Dirt games and are going to be disappointed.

"in terms of short or not worth the money"

You're a freaking broken record. Why do you keep bringing up how short the game is? "Short" and "not worth the money" are TWO ENTIRELY DIFFERENT THINGS. A game can have a thousand hours of gameplay and still not be worth paying 5 dollars for if it absolutely sucks.

"at the same time if a game is short then you really can't replay it much unless it's an online game"

I completely disagree. I play Mike Tyson's Punch-Out! all the time because for me, it's one of the best games ever made and I just don't tire of it.

"Sonic 06 which were full of bugs got 4.4, completely unplayable pile of a bad game and is only 0.6 points away from the rating you gave Showdown"

Okay, first of all, bugs and glitches are not something that necessarily affects a game's score. Super Mario Brothers for the NES was filled with glitches and none of them made the game bad; in fact, they added an endearing character to the game. The only time I'd factor in a glitch into my score is if it dramatically affected the way the game plays.

Secondly, very few people seem to bother to use a 1-10 scale in a meaningful way. An average game gets a 5.0. Showdown is not BAD, but it's also not GOOD, it's AVERAGE, so therefore it gets a 5.0. Giving it an 8 is laughable.

It's absurd how many reviewers give average games a rating of 7 or more. The entire bottom half of the ratings system seems to be reserved for jokes and grudges. That's not how I rate games. 6 is above-average, 7 is a very good game, 8 is an excellent game, 9 is an outstanding game, and 10 is as close to perfection as gaming gets. It's no coincidence that sites and magazines that are consistently giving inflated numbers to certain games are also getting big advertising from the publishers of those games.

If you're going to continue arguing with me about this game, I suggest you actually read my review and respond to the complaints I mentioned in it, instead of talking about how short the game is or how many bugs aren't in the game, because neither of those things have anything to do with why I gave it a 5. There are even things I forgot to put in my review, like the lack of more than 2 camera angles and the track objects that mysteriously respawn every lap.

@rarson I agree don't get me wrong, I love the way Flatout handles and everything, but a car going 30MPH around a wide corner isn't going to suddenly break loose for no reason and spin out, also, I didn't mean cranking the steering left or right, just a slight turn to get you on your feet after a jump, I personally never really had that problem when playing, I'd start to lose control but regain it almost instantly naturally, of course if you cranked the steering and landed you'd lose that whole front end, it would either be mangled, broken steering arms, etc, but obviously if a game like that were too realistic it wouldn't be fun.

Not all of Invictus left just the main guys who worked on 1NSANE, because after Invictus left Codemasters contract they had no one to patch the game so bought a few of the guys from the 1NSANE team, had a huge discussion about this on one of the Modding forums with a fellow modder.

What I'm saying is bug wise, glitch wise the game is sound, like I said, this was made to please a certain audience of Codemasters fans, I probably won't be buying this game because I don't have the money to waste, but other people might like it, hell I know a kid on Steam who loves this game to death, also, in terms of short or not worth the money, RAGE is one of those games were I felt really let down and ripped off after pre-ordering the Anarchy Edition then discovering it was extremely short and not what I was promised, it lacked a lot, the controls were horrible and there's hardly any kind of control options, for some reason they thought it would be a good idea to make turning your character extremely slow at start then blazing fast two seconds later, it really made that game a mess, all in all I had fun, but not much and co-op isn't done very well either, not to mention having to switch discs back and forth on the Xbox version, they should have had the option of doing a data install and using the 1st disc as primary.

Same here, probably not all of them, but most of them and I agree, their presentation of the game was lackluster and it's probably not meant for everyone but I know quite a few people who wanted this to happen, I wanted Dirt 4 (More realistic) or GRID 2 with more of the destruction derby game mode, but instead got this, which isn't bad but it isn't what I hoped it would be.

I have to agree, but at the same time if a game is short then you really can't replay it much unless it's an online game such as TF2, CS, Killing Floor, etc.

it will probably get boring fast and that's about my gripe with it, is that it will get boring, so we have about the same thought of it, I just wouldn't rate it so low.

I agree, but at the same time most games like Sonic 06 which were full of bugs got 4.4, completely unplayable pile of a bad game and is only 0.6 points away from the rating you gave Showdown, I think Sonic 06 deserves at least a 2, it wasn't even a game, more like an expensive shiny frisbee. I never expected someone to ever bring up one of my all time favorite games, Road Rash 64, I had so much fun playing that and wheeling over obstacles and traffic, putting a bar into someones spokes and sending them tumbling off their bike and multiplayer especially, not to mention the dope soundtrack, sir, I do believe 9 was a fantastic score for that game.

Yeah, if they had given it another name it polished it a bit more it could have been a great game, I don't get why they didn't use the same wrecking system in the destruction derby mode of GRID for this game as well, it looked fantastic and played well, not to mention the destruction looked fairly realistic.

My point is that Flatout strikes a good balance between realism and control, which Dirt Showdown doesn't, and has more depth in addition.

"usually you couldn't even turn before hitting the ground from a jump"

Why would you ever turn before hitting the ground? If a game purports realism, then I expect it to respond realistically. If I turn while heavily braking into a corner, I expect my car to continue going straight, as it should. If you were to drive a car off a ramp and turn in midair, your landing would not be good. Real cars ARE touchy.

"who joined Codemasters' racing department not to long after the game launched."

From their company website: "...the company has specialized in state of the art racing games for PCs, but in 2010 decided to move to mobile platforms." They make phone and tablet games now. They're not part of Codemasters.

"I don't think calling a game shallow, cheap, etc is right when there is nothing wrong with the game"

There is plenty wrong with this game. The mishmash of two random racing styles, with handling compromised for both. The lame damage modeling and lack of meaningful effect. The lack of a decent single-player progression. The lack of a manual transmission option. The completely inconsequential unlocking system. The lack of decent voice audio. The lack of feeling of actual offroad driving. I could go on. This is a half-assed game. What fun it does have doesn't last, and in my opinion, it's average, so it deserves a 5.

I've owned or played every single Codemasters racing game since 1998's Touring Car Challenge, which by the way, is STILL an awesome game (I wrote a review for it back in 2008). I am a HUGE fan of Codemasters. This game doesn't come close to measuring up to their previous offerings. It's not about the style of the game or the fact that it's more arcade-oriented, it's that the execution of the concept sucks. Everything that this game does other games have already done better.

I find it amusing that you keep saying that the game is short while trying to defend it. That is your complaint about the game, not mine. I usually don't even consider the length of the game at all unless it has no replay value. I think Dirt Showdown is plenty long enough, it just gets boring before it's even done.

The lack of bugs or glitches is not a reason to give a game a high score. What matters most to me, and what I base my scores on, is how fun the game is. If you look at my reviews, you'll notice I gave Road Rash 64 a 9. That's because the game is fun, even after hours of playing it. This game is not.

I still don't understand why this game deserves the Dirt title. Codemasters obviously slapped the name on the box to sell copies of a hastily-assembled game.

@rarson As do I, the big box PS1 case for DD1 and the regular case for DD2.

Never played Destruction Racer, looked at it but never played it.

Eve of Destruction was pretty awesome, the demolition modes were fun, upgrading and not completely destroying your vehicles was tedious, but the trailer races and chicken bombing is what really made that game fun.

I mean that at the time the handling for Flatout was fairly touchy, it played really well don't get me wrong, but people were not used to that kind of handling, it's loose, as it should be for a game that takes place mostly on dirt. But Flatout 2 had some really messed up handling, usually you couldn't even turn before hitting the ground from a jump or it would send you side ways for no good reason, but the reason I liked that one so much is that the handling made it challenging.

I own 1NSANE and have also modded a little for it...the game was created by Invictus while under contract by Codemasters, who joined Codemasters' racing department not to long after the game launched.

The ragdolls in Flatout was what brought me in originally because it was such a unique idea and the Mini Games kept me entertained for a long time, but I don't think calling a game shallow, cheap, etc is right when there is nothing wrong with the game and just because it's not for one audience of people doesn't mean it should be down voted. I think 8 is the perfect score, it's not some steaming pile of bugs and glitches like a lot of today's games. It's a good game, it maybe short, but I think it's still a good game.

I still own Destruction Derby and Destruction Derby 2. While DD2 is similar to Flatout, it doesn't really come close (and is an extremely old game anyway) to providing the same experience.

Demolition Racer: No Exit comes close to the spirit of the dirt smash racing of DD2 and Showdown, but the physics and graphics aren't even close.

Eve of Destruction was kind of flat... not nearly as much fun as Flatout.

I never really found the handling of Flatout to be that touchy... in fact, the cars actually drive the way I expect them to, which is something that is sorely lacking in Dirt Showdown.

I also own 1NSANE, and I disagree that it's anything like this game... have you ever played it? It wasn't even developed by Codemasters. It's a great game, but has nothing to do with this discussion.

You're right though, this game isn't a ripoff of Flatout because Flatout has the ragdoll physics that adds a level of depth to the game that this one is sorely lacking.

I don't dislike this game because it's short, I dislike it because it's shallow, cheap, tedious, and fairly boring. The fun doesn't last. It doesn't come close to living up to the Dirt name (I'm at a loss as to why the word is in the title, other than to sell copies on name alone). It's an average game, and that means it deserves a 5. If you want, you can read all about my opinion of this game in the review I just posted for the PC version.

@rarson Actually, Test Driver Eve of Destruction was out before Flatout and before that was Desctruction Derby for PS and even though Flatout is one of my favorite game series, I don't think this rips it off in the slightest, it's supposed to be a glamed up destruction derby racer and I suppose that's exactly what it is. In Flatout the handling was EXTREMELY touchy, the tiniest of mistakes sends you packing straight into a wall, player or a non moveable object, it got even touchier when FO2 came out, were as Dirt Showdown is precise spot on handling and even though I'm not a fan of vehicles handling that way, there really wasn't a way around it for a game like this, you get shoved a little in Dirt 3 and you are off the track unless you are on asphalt then it's easy to keep control. Why would the game be rated down? What for? There really is nothing wrong with it, it's just not a rally game like most people expected it to be and it wasn't supposed to be, Codemasters had a game similar to this called 1NSANE, a great game, sadly it didn't really sell, only had a few tracks, a few vehicles, it had a random terrain generator as well but it was a great game although short. I see games way shorter than this with people raving about them even though they have hardly any content.

My only gripe is that if it really is short, then the price tag on it is fairly high, except on Steam where it's $50 instead of $60 on the consoles.

@tommyas I've actually been playing it at a friends house, I've sunk maybe only 30 minutes at most into it so I don't know how many tracks there are exactly, but I don't get the feel when playing that every track is the same, each one seems different enough for me so far, I do wish they would have had as many as Dirt 2 and 3 had, they both had quite a few tracks not even including the DLC, DLC added quite a few more maps as well, there were about 30 unique maps in Dirt 3 and about 25 in Dirt 2.

Yeah, I used to trust IGN a little until I started to hear about all these stories, each one is extremely consistent with each other that it just doesn't seem like some kind of rumor but more fact than anything. But GS has always been my source of games that deserve my money, that and friends and family.

@neurochurro Well, yes and no, this has been on going for IGN, they always say otherwise, but that's just them, but at the same time, if a site about journalism toward games like here or IGN if they give a game a bad score, big companies like Sony most notably tend to flag these journalists down and demand a better review or legal actions are around the bend, but journalism is not slander so really big companies have no ground, so that's why they pay places like IGN to give good reviews and if they don't pay they rate it down quite a bit, usually if you see a good review here and a bad review at IGN it's another case of the developers not paying for a review, it's just that IGN has been notorious for this and they even have discussions on the IGN forums about this from time to time and get nuked fairly quickly unless the thread goes in a direction in which makes IGN look good, but usually it doesn't so they get nuked. I also read a blog recently discussing this exact issue, IGN giving Showdown a low score for moronic reasons on behalf of them not getting money from Codemasters. I was just reading it before I posted here and now I can't find the link, but the guy had a brother who worked for GS and a cousin who worked for IGN and even if that scenario doesn't sound believable the things the guys said were things you wouldn't really know unless you had that kind of access.

In terms of demolition derby or figure-8 racing? Absolutely not. Your explanation makes no sense because you say it's "you against the enemy." Except the enemy in this case is many enemies, so it's not a showdown...